Zutara
by bnm4694
Summary: This is just a scenario of what could have been going through their minds at the end of the series. Better than it sounds. I'm really bad at summaries. :
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so I was watching the last few episodes on Nick because they've got that pop up video thing going on right now, and as I was watching I just kept think "What the heck?" And while this could just be my inner Zatara speaking, It seemed like Katara was rushing her feelings for Aang. She just walks up and kisses him after not seeing or talking to him in days, when only an episode before (I'm counting Sozin's Comet as a whole rather than four episodes) she was, "… confused about her feelings…" And you Kataang shippers will probably be saying, "Yeah, but Aang been in love with her since the beginning of the show!" But what I would like to know is where were Katara's feeling up until now? 'Cause it just seemed very "I'm confused… Kiss me!" but whatever. That's kind of what inspired me to write this, a reason for Katara to feel like she needed to rush her feelings. Sorry for the rambling and I don't own Avatar. Otherwise Kataang would be non-existent. ****J**

Zuko was wincing in front of the mirror, examining the fresh wound on his chest. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a movement behind him, and he spun around to confront his intruder. She was leaning against the doorframe; her blue dress standing out against the deep burgundy walls of his room. He relaxed when he recognized her and went back to what he was doing.

"Did I scare you?" she asked as she walked towards him smirking. He just grinned. "How's it looking?" she asked obviously concerned.

"Better." he replied grimly.

"I was just stopping to look over it again. Make sure everything is healed up nicely."

He walked over to the bench in front of his bed and took a seat. Katara placed herself on his right and began examining the angry scar on his chest. As her finger's touched him, he flinched, and she couldn't help flinching with him. She hated seeing her friend in pain, and she felt guilty. This should have been her.

"So how is it?" He asked. He was acting brave, but she could see that every move was strained. His golden eyes reflected the hidden pain.

"It could use another session." She told him, determined not to look into his face for the fear of breaking down again. She stood and walked quickly to the bathroom filling a basin with water and carrying it back to where they sat.

Zuko could see something was bothering her. As soon as she started examining his sister's parting gift, something seemed to change in her demeanor. He wanted nothing more than to comfort his friend. She had saved his life, but he was never good with words, or people, or emotions. He had no clue how to help her.

She silently bent the water into a glove over her hand and began her work. After a few minutes of this he decides to try and spark up a conversation with her, "How do you think the rest of the gang are doing?"

She turned up towards him, slightly surprised at his attempt at small talk. "I suppose they're fine." she said after a moment. "I'm sure Aang has shown up by now and we'll be hearing from them at any moment." she. As much as I wanted to believe it, there was no way of knowing the outcome until it was too late and if Aang never showed back up… well, it wouldn't be good.

"How can you be so confident in him?"

"He's the Avatar." she stated simply as if that explained everything.

"But he's just a boy. Only thirteen. What if he ran away again?"

"Aang wouldn't just leave. He didn't know better before. He matured a lot since we first found him. He's really grown up." she insisted. "Apparently more than a certain Firelord I know." she muttered under her breath.

Zuko could see he had offended her. Rather than be rational though he suddenly felt agitated by her. Though he didn't know if it was her defensiveness or her slight jab. "I haven't exactly had it easy either. You don't see me running from my problems."

"Oh no, you where too busy chasing us for that." her job completely forgotten in her own anger.

"At least I did something about my problems. I see now that it wasn't the right choice, but I thought, at the time, it was my only option. If I had known any other way I would have taken it!"

"_I_ gave you another way!" she shouted. "And then… you betrayed me." she added quietly. They were standing now. Only inches apart. She turned away from him as the memories came flooding back and her eyes began to blur.

A sudden pain in his chest brought him back to where he was. It wasn't from his injury though. She walked out the room, to proud to show how much he had hurt her. But she soon as the doors to his room shut the tears began to fall and she ran towards her chamber.

As soon as she left it was as if someone had set him into overdrive. He began pacing back and forth in his room. Should he go to her room and apologize? Should he give her space? Mai was never this difficult to understand. She never got worked up or emotional. And Azula! He would never risk doing anything to her to upset her in the first place. He turned towards his doors and stepped out into the hallway. Determined not to prove her point and run away now. As he got closer to the entrance to her bedroom though he began losing steam. He raised his hand to knock then second guessed himself and froze. He turned back down the hallway the way he had come, but again changed his mind and turned back. He sighed and knocked. There was no answer, "Katara?" he called, but again he was only met with silence. He almost gave up. Instead he grabbed the door handle and walked in.

She was sitting on the bed with her knees pulled up to her chest and her back him. Hesitantly he stepped forward.

"Go away, Zuko." She said. Though trying to cover it up, he could hear the tears in her voice.

"Katara… I never meant to hurt you." He said reaching towards her. "I-" she cut him off.

"Please, just leave me alone!" she said with a fresh wave of tears streaming down her cheeks. His hand faltered and dropped back to his side, "Please." she pleaded quietly.

He turned away and began walking out, but again something made him stop. He walked around to the other the side of the bed and sat next to her. He wrapped his arms around her. At first she wasn't sure how to react. She just sat there while he held her, but as if some plug had been unstopped she wrapped her arms around him too and sobbed into his shoulder.

"I really am sorry you know. For everything" He whispered.

"No, it's not that. I'm sorry for even bringing it up." She said while sitting up to look at him. "It's just, that day in the cave I thought I found one person… just _one other person, _who could understand what I felt when my mom died, what I felt everyday since. Today, when I saw you get hit by the lightning, I thought I was losing someone else I… care about. It brought back all those feelings."

He put his hand on the side of her face and she closed her eyes. And for a moment everything felt… right to him. Her eyes flew open, and she pulled herself back.

"Zuko, stop. This can't happen."

"What?"

"This!"

"Why? Why not?"

"Because, you're the Firelord. You're supposed to marry Fire Nation nobility. And I- I'm-" she struggled with the words, "I'm… in love with Aang." she said quickly, her eyes strained on the floor. It surprised him to find that hearing the words hurt. Almost as much as it surprised her to find saying the words did, too, even though she knew they were a lie. No not a lie, but they were not quite the truth either, as much as she wanted them to be. She wanted to love Aang. She tried to love Aang, but it was never enough. Never in the way _he wanted her to._

"_You really do?" he asked._

_She hesitated, "Yes. And you need to find someone who is right for you, too."_

_He stood up a bit shocked and walked towards the door. She remained frozen. He paused before exiting and turned back towards her. "Goodbye Katara." he whispered._

_She spun around towards him, but the door was already shut. And he was already gone._


	2. Chapter 2

He hadn't stopped thinking about what Katara said for days. She was so frustrating sometimes. But then again, maybe she was right. Maybe he should just find someone else. Maybe if he tried hard enough, he could be happy with someone else. Maybe he could be happy with Mai. She was his friend. He really cared about her. Perhaps he just had to try harder. Perhaps he could love her. If he pushed himself. He would have to. If anything else, he would do it for Katara. Because she told him to.

"Ugh." he groaned out of frustration. Partly because he couldn't seem to find the right answer. Should he just force himself to be with Mai, even if he didn't love her. _Yet he added mentally. And partly because they had been avoiding each other which meant no healing sessions, and his chest was hurting making it difficult to put on his robes._

"_You need some help with that?" His head jerked up. Could it be her? It had to be a sign. He knew what he needed to do. He spun around to face Mai._

"_Mai your okay!" He said genuinely excited to see his old friend alive. "They let you out of prison?"_

"_My uncle pulled some strings" She tied helped him with the robe, "And it doesn't hurt when the new Firelord is your boyfriend." she added. _

_It was too easy. He knew that this is what was right. He was just confused and Katara… was just a friend. Mai was the one. "So does this mean you don't hate me anymore?" _

"_I think it means I actually kind of like you." she kissed him. How could he have ever doubted this. She had been his friend when he was a kid she was his friend when he came back home. I had to be her. It had to be. They pulled away. "But don't ever break up with me again." she said poking him in the shoulder to make her point. His mind unconsciously went to Katara but he quickly wiped the thought away. He hugged her and knew he could be happy here with her. Happy enough._


	3. Chapter 3

"Katara? What are you doing here so early?" the cheery old man asked. His large smile seemed to warm the whole room, and relaxed her nerves a bit.

"I just wanted…" she began. Her nerves took back over, "to see if you needed help with anything." She finally spat out. She was hoping he wouldn't detect the lie. But she just couldn't seem to be able to admit the truth. The truth that ever since that night she couldn't seem to get him out of her head. That maybe, she _might_ have been wrong. That maybe they did need each other.

He raised a brow, looking a bit skeptical, but he just brushed it off and went on, "Well, we're actually fully staffed at the moment. I'm actually feeling a bit useless myself."

"Oh? Well, too bad." She said trying to sound disappointed. "I guess I'll just get back."

"Sorry. With Zuko back there-"

"Zuko's helping out?" She asked trying to sound casual.

"Yes, they've been here all morning getting ready. Just because he's the Firelord, doesn't mean that he's too good to serve tea."

"They?"

"He and Mai. She's going to be joining us this evening."

"I didn't know- I mean, how long have they been together?"

"They grew up together. They always seemed to have a crush on each other, so it was only a matter of time. I believe the day they actually began dating though was… the day he was crowned." Her head was reeling. The next day? How could she have been so stupid?

"I, um, I really should be going."

"You don't have to go so soon. If you would like we could talk. It seems like something is bothering you."

"No, really. Everyone will be wondering where I am. I'll see you this afternoon." She turned and rushed back out of the room.

"Hmmm." Iroh muttered as he walked away trying to piece together the strange behavior he's seen from his nephew and Katara over the past few days. The picture seemed to keep getting clearer.

She seemed nice, a little dull, but nice. She was funny, in her own dry why, but it grew on you. She was beautiful, if you liked that gothic style. She was a rich, high class, Fire Nation woman. She was everything a Firelord would need. The worst part was Katara actually liked her. At first she was apprehensive, but once she got to know her, Mai fit into their little family perfectly. Zuko looked happy. Katara couldn't believe she let him fool her again. She was just waiting for a flaw for something that gave her the authority to hate this girl. Even her former alliance with Azula wasn't enough. She had risked everything to go against Azula when Zuko and her brother, Sokka, had been in danger, and as she watched her now with all her friends it seemed so _right. Yet even without justification every glance between her and Zuko, every touch, or laugh, or talk just fueled her irrational hatred for this girl._

_Out of the corner of her eye she saw Aang slip out the door. This was it this was her moment she had put off from the day she realized how he felt. Zuko had moved on why couldn't she? She had to push him out of her head and she started walking towards the door after Aang. She felt someone staring, but she didn't dare turn to see who it was. Somewhere in the back of her mind she felt that this wasn't who she wanted, but she again shoved the thought out. He was standing by the balcony and she stepped up next to him. He turned and smile at her. So innocent, so adoring. She almost couldn't go through with. She glance out of the corner of her eye at the tea room, at her friends, at him. He was standing with his arm around her waist. Katara suddenly felt a sense of urgency, like she had to do this and she had to do it now. Her confused feelings didn't matter. Once she kissed him, once they were together they would sort themselves out. She could be happy with Aang. She kissed him and she knew there was no turning back. She had made her choice. They could be happy. Happy enough._


End file.
